In an age where Industry is incentivised and continuously encouraged to minimize the negative impacts on the environment, I am still asked, to my utter surprise “what is the point of having spill kits?”
In short….in the event of a spillage occurring, if you do not have access to adequate spill kits, absorbents, or contained absorbent products, the cost and risk to personnel safety and the environmental damage dramatically increases!
Having access to spill kits on both site and in applicable vehicles, aids in immediately containing a run- away spill and there- by dramatically reducing the coverage or affected area, in turn reducing the clean- up and remediation costs. Proactive risk assessment and management of Hazardous spillages through the effective use of spill containment products will be both beneficial to the environment and to a company’s financial bottom line.
It is equally important to ensure that you have the correct type of spill kits. It is imperative to always assess the highest risk or highest potential of spillage/s and to make provision for a spill kit that is namely capable of both containing and absorbing the applicable Hazmat spillage efficiently and effectively.
Legislation, such as the Waste Management Act and Hazardous Substances act enforces the responsible end to end management of spillages. This entails as per example, that in the event of contamination of rivers taking place, the applicable entity or organization is responsible for the full impact and environmental remediation cost both to land and man. This, as you can imagine can entail hefty costs, fines and even imprisonment if found negligent.
Common practice, whereby saw dust or river sand is used as a cheaper alternative, has been proven to be both inefficient and ineffective as an absorbent. It does not prevent seepage, nor does it encapsulate or Bio-remediate hazmat materials. Furthermore, river sand or saw dust does not absorb any hazardous vapours and can pose a serious health risk to your teams and most importantly, a fire hazard. AfriSupply specialises in a wide variety of absorbents for petroleum- based liquids, aggressive chemicals and even Biological spillages (e.g., blood, urine, plasma) and will gladly assist with advising on the best applicable absorbent and spill containment products to make use of.
AfriSupply has also made provision for the first and only basic spill kit training DVD available in South Africa. Our Training DVD visually outlines the key practical steps to follow in the event of day-to-day spillages or major spillages, now available in English, Zulu, French and Portuguese! This is highly recommended to include in your organisations SHEQ training programmes and Safety Inductions.
AfriSupply is your specialist supplier of spill kits, Spill Containment Products , absorbents and contained absorbents and would like to support you on your Environmental Journey, simply get in touch with us! We’re always ready to help you in any way we can.